Lint treating device



June 1940- R. w. M LEAN I 2,205,017

' LIN'I TREATING DEVICE Filed llay 9, 1939 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 o :o O O .52

40 L izdeflv" 120 67 W g e 46 46 6/ 2 0.0% 716-6 g June 18, 1940. R. W. MCLEAN 1.1m TREATING DEVICE Filed lay 9. 1959 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Patented June 18, 1940 PATENT OFFICE LINT TREATING DEVICE Robert W. McLean,

Bridgew'ater, Mass, as'signor to The Murray Company, Dallas, Tex., a corpcration of Texas Application May 9, 1939, Serial No. 272,589

3 Claims.

This invention relates to a lint treating device which acts upon the lint after it has passed through a linter gin and removes therefrom various impurities before the lint is ready for baling or other preparation for shipment. Lint so prepared is used in many ways, particularly as a source of cellulose in the manufacture of rayon, gun cotton or the like.

The apparatus herein disclosed is desirable for use in treating lint which has been pneumatically conveyed from the linter gin to a suitable separator, for instance a cyclone type separator, from which the lint drops as a loose, fluffy mass which contains entangled with the fibres a certain amount of impurities such as hull-pepper,

sand, and other extraneous matter usually albumenoids or silicates, although the operation or utility of the present apparatus is in no way dependent upon the type of conveying'means employed for delivering the lint to it.

These impurities are in general non-cellulosic and hence reduce the cellulose content of the lint. It has been found that a lint suitable as a source of cellulose should have a cellulose content in' the neighborhood-of 80% and the primary object of this device is to remove impurities from the lint to such an extent that the lint so treated has the desired cellulose content.

Moreover many of these impurities are highly colored'and if allowed to remain in the lint will discolor the bales of lint and cause them to have a dusky, smoky appearance which detracts from their commercial value. A further object of this invention is accordingly to mote the lint removing these impurities and thus to purify the lint.

These and other objects of the invention will appear from a consideration of the following description of two embodiments thereof and of the drawings which form a part thereof and in which:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a form of this invention;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation thereof, a portion having been removed;

Fig. 3 is a transverse section of the device takenalong the line 33 in Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a longitudinal section of a portion of the device; 7

Fig. 5.is a view in elevation of one of the side panels of the device;

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of a basket;

Fig. 7 is a view in perspective of a hook which may be used in carrying out one feature of the invention; and

device embodying one Figs. 8 and 9 are plan and side elevation views similar to Figs. 1 and 2 of a device embodying another form of this invention.

The lint is delivered to the cellulose-control device from the linter gin or separator as a loose flufiy mass. Entangled with the fibres of the lint are hull-pepper and other impurities in such small amounts that they were not removed in the ginning treatment.

While two cellulose-control devices embodying this invention are shown in the drawings, they are in general of the same construction and differ only in certain respects which will be set forth below.

The device It comprises a casing in which is provided a relatively long chamber ll throw which the lint passes from an inlet I2 at one end to an outlet [3 at the other end.

The side walls of the casing each comprise a fixed lower section consisting. of parallel horizontally extending angle beams l and f6 and vertical angle beams I1 and I8 connecting the ends thereof to which beams is spot welded or otherwise permanently secured a plate l9 and a removable upper section consisting of a plurality of panels ill which rest upon and are supported by the beam l5 and plate I9 (see Fig. 3). Each panel 29 is rectangular having a notch 2| extending upwardly from. the lower edge and having on its outer face along its top and side edges and along its bottom edge at each side of the notch 2] angle beams 22.

The end Walls and 26 of the casing are provided with ports (not shown) through which the lint passes and have at each edge of the outer face angle beams 27 and 28 respectively. Each plate 19 with its beams forming the fixed lower portion of the side wall is bolted to the end walls 25 and 26. The panels 20 which form the removable upper portion of the side wall are fixed in position by nut and bolt assemblies 30 and 3|. The assemblies 38 join adjacent side beams 22 or side beams 22 with the beams 21 or 28 of the end walls and the assemblies 3| join the bottom beams 22 of the angle beams I5.

The device 20 is closed at the top by a plurality of lids 35, each lid covering the space between a pair of I panels-20. The lids are remo-vably positioned by U-shaped clips 36 carried by, downturned flanges 31 of certain lids to receive the corresponding flanges of adjacent lids.

The bottom of the device I0 is formed by a plurality of arcuate baskets 40 corresponding in number to the lids 35. Each basket 40 comprises a frame 4| consisting ofside bars 42, end angle beams 43 and an intermediate angle beam 44, and a mesh screen 45 fixed to and supported by said frame (see Fig. 6). The baskets are removably secured in position by nut and bolt assemblies 46 which join the beams 43 to the plates I9.

The chamber II thus consists of a plurality of compartments each defined by a lid 35, a basket 48, a pair of panels 20 and portions of the fixed lower section. Mounted in each compartment is an agitator 50 comprising a shaft 5I and a plurality of rods 52 projecting radially therefrom. The ends of the shaft 5I pass through the notches 2I in the panels 20, and are journaled in bearings 53 mounted upon the angle beams I5, and secured thereto by bolts 54. Fixed to the side plates I9 and beams I5 are plates 55 which project above the beams and close the notches 2I below the shafts as shown particularly in Figs. 3 and 4.

The shafts 5| are rotated slowly (40 to 75 revolutions per minute) in unison in the counterclockwise direction indicated by the arrows 'on Figs. 1 and 2 through a plurality of belts and pulleys from a suitable source of power (not shown). The rods 52 are of such length that the ends thereof travel just above the screens 45 and the rods on the shafts are so spaced that the paths of the rods on each shaft are midway between the paths of the rods on the adjacent shaft.

The screens 45 in the various compartments vary as to the sizes of the mesh, that at the inlet end of the chamber having a smaller mesh than that at the outlet end. It has been found of advantage, in the four compartment device shown in Figs. 1 and 2, to use LO-mesh screens in the first two compartments, a one-eighth inch screen in the next compartment, and a threeeighths inch screen in the last compartment. The screens in the last two compartments are of perforated metal.

The device It is fixed securely to the floor or to a platform, as by bolts or the like through the beams I6, and the space in the casing below the baskets is divided by transverse partitions fixed to the side plates I9, so that there is a reservoir GI below each basket.

The inlet I2 is so inclined that the entering lint drops freely down onto the screen of the basket in the first compartment. The rods 52 of the agitator, which move in the same direction as the entering lint, toss the lint upwardly and forwardly toward and into the second compartment, wherein the lint tends to slide downwardly over the screen of said compartment but is tossed upwardly by the rods 52 and delivered into third compartment. This movement continues through the third and fourth compartment, from the latter of which the lint is tossed out of the chamber through the outlet I3.

The initial direction of the stream and the form of the screens and the agitators 50 keeps the loose, fiuffy lint suspended and prevents its settling, balling, or matting. The heavier impurities escape from entanglement with the fibers and fall by gravity onto the screens and through the apertures therein into the reservoirs 6!. The sand and other impurities of small dimension are heavier and are the first to leave the lint, and in order to separate such from the larger extraneous matter the screens in the first two compartments are of much finer mesh than the other screens, so that even if any of thelarger impurities should fall onto the screens in'the first compartment, they would not enter the reservoirs GI thereunder.

The output from the device is tested from time to time for its cellulose content, and the baskets are changed as required to maintain the content at the desired percentage, baskets with screens of larger mesh being employed if the percentage is below the desired limit and baskets with screens of smaller mesh being employed if the percentage is above such limit.

One advantage flowing from the construction of the device II] is that the agitator 50 in any compartment may be removed easily to make repairs or replacements, and the basket 20 there-- in may also be removed for the same reason, and that this can be done without disturbing the other agitators and baskets. Thus to remove an agitator 50, the lid 35 thereover is taken off, the nut and bolt assemblies 30 and 3I released to free the panels 20, which are removed and finally the bolts 52 are turned to release the bearings If the basket 40 is also to be removed the nut and bolt assemblies 46 are then released to free the basket from the fixed side walls. The basket due to its size and structure is difficult to manipulate and hence there are provided hooks, one of which is shown on Fig. 7 and designated by the numeral 219. The bent ends of the hooks can be inserted into apertures in the end angle beams 43 and the basket then raised without difficulty even though the agitators remain in position. In order to facilitate the mounting and release of the baskets, the nut elements of the assemblies 46 are welded or otherwise rigidly secured to the beams 43 so that only the bolt elements require attention.

In some instances it is desired to suspend the device from the ceiling or high supports and thereby conserve fioor space. The device IIU shown in Figs. 8 and 9 is constructed for this use. It operates in the same manner as the device I0. Hence its operation will not be described in detail and reference numerals corresponding to those employed therein will be used in the following description and on the drawings without further explanation.

Due to the location of cult, and in some instances impossible, to remove the agitators and baskets from above, as in device III, and the following changes from the construction of that device have been made so that such elements can be removed from below.

The upper portions of the side walls are stationary while the lower portions thereof are removable. The bearings I53 are suspended from the angle beams II5 to which they are secured by bolts I54, and the baskets I40 are bolted by assemblies I46 to the removable panels I20. The basket I40 is first removed by releasing the assemblies I46. The panels I20 are then removed by releasing the assemblies I30 and I3I and finally the bearings I53 are unbolted from the beams I I5 so that the agitator I50 may be lowered from the device.

While two embodiments of this invention have been shown and described, the invention is not limited thereto, and other embodiments thereof can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the following claims.

I claim:

1. A cellulose control device for lint comprising a casing having a chamber extending longitudinally of the casing and through which lint is transported, each side wall of the housing comprising a fixed section including a horizontally extending angle beam, and a removable section the device IIO it is difllher, and a plurality of rods projecting radially having notches therein through which the shafts project, whereby the panels when removed permit the dismounting of a shaft.

2. A cellulose control device for lint comprising a casing having a chamber extending longi tudinally of the casing and through which. lint is transported, each side wall of the housing comprising a fixed section including a horizontally extending angle beam, and a removable section consisting of a plurality of panels, a plurality of arcuate screen baskets forming the bottom of said chamber, a plurality of agitators in said chamber, each agitator comprising a shaft which panels having notches therein through which the shafts project, whereby the panels may be removed to permit the dismounting of a shai't.

3. A cellulose control device for lint comprisshaft.

ROBERT W. MCLEAN. 

